Today's editorial: Herb Epp helped build Waterloo

Waterloo Region Record

The titles borne by Herb Epp tell much, but not all, about the extraordinary man who died on Monday at the age of 78. Mayor of Waterloo, member of the Ontario Legislature, Waterloo regional councillor, alderman for Waterloo and school teacher — he was known and respected by many names.

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Yet above all Herb Epp should be called a builder — not of houses or office towers but communities. The proof is everywhere in Waterloo, in the new library and YMCA he helped plan in his last term of office, in Waterloo’s vibrant public square, which he also championed in those years. The full sum of what Epp constructed, however, is far greater than these achievements.

In the past 50 years, Waterloo has grown from a small, provincial city into a globally recognized centre for new technology, innovation and higher learning. There are many people — entrepreneurs, business people, academics, engineers — who led this incredible, and, for the most part unforeseen, transformation.

But the list of citizens who made the most enduring contributions to Waterloo, and the Region of Waterloo as well, must include Epp’s name. Over that pivotal half century, Epp served as an elected politician for 26 years. To that record must be appended the decade or so he spent in less visible but still vital community work.

Just think: Waterloo’s population is nearing 100,000 today. But there were slightly more than 30,000 people living there when Epp was first elected alderman in 1968. There was no regional government either, just old, awkward and ineffective Waterloo County.

Epp was an influential civic leader in the momentous years that led up to and then followed the creation of two-tiered Waterloo Region in 1973. Originally he doubted the worth of this new regional system of government. On some issues, he was proved right, such as the time in 1975 when, as mayor, he resisted regional opposition to a new shopping centre in the city’s north end. That centre, of course, is known today as Conestoga Mall, and it’s impossible to imagine Waterloo without it.

Even so, Epp was won over to the strengths of the new region and became such an ardent supporter of it that, when he first ran for a seat in the provincial legislature, he opposed a pledge from his own Liberal Party leader Stuart Smith to scrap regional government. No, Epp insisted, this region was worth keeping.

Despite his disappointment at never being made a cabinet minister, Epp loyally served his party whether it was in opposition or government. After leaving provincial politics in 1990, his contributions to this community continued.

Epp served on the Waterloo Wellington Airport Commission, the boards of governors for the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, on the Catholic Family Counselling Centre and Family and Children’s Services. In addition to all this he somehow found time to serve as president of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (Waterloo Region) and president of the Kitchener-Waterloo Rotary Club. No wonder he was renowned for his energy.

As Waterloo’s mayor between 2003 and 2006, Epp helped stabilize the city’s finances after the RIM Park fiasco. It’s true that he led the city into an ill-advised series of lawsuits connected to the RIM Park deal that cost Waterloo more in legal fees than it won back in damages.

Even so, Epp’s steady hand was a great cure for a city that had been sickened by scandal. And whether at the start or end of his political career, Epp conducted himself with a quiet grace, integrity and modesty. He was a class act.

It’s sad to realize that such a life of service is over. Yet there is consolation and inspiration in seeing the legacy Herb Epp leaves and that will live on.